The main theatre in the city is an extraordinary and rare example of a functioning public theatre in the same building almost continuously for more than three centuries. Built at the expense and at the behest of the Republicit was inaugurated in 1675 1675 and was used regularly as a Public Theatre – despite a fire and some ailments – until the beginning of the 19th century (it had assumed the name of Teatro Nazionale a short time earlier), when substantial restoration work was required (according to the project of Giovanni Lazzarini),which did not distort the original design. Since August 1819, the theatre, under the name of Teatro del Giglio, enjoyed its most glorious season, which lasted for at least thirty years, offering Lucca performances of excellent level.
When Giacomo Puccini lived in Lucca, the seasons were less remarkable, but that does not mean that the Teatro del Giglio, along with the Teatro Pantera and the Teatro Goldoni (the old Teatro Castiglioncelli) could not offer young musicians – provded they could always pay the ticket – the opportunity to get in touch with several works.

By way of example, we can list some of the titles of works performed between 1858 (the year of his birth) and 1880 (the year of his departure for Milan), grouped by author and in more or less chronological order, without indicating the repetitions:

Verdi: Il trovatore, La traviata, Macbeth, I due Foscari, Un ballo in maschera, Luisa Miller, Nabucco, I lombardi alla prima crociata, Ernani, Rigoletto, I vespri siciliani and La forza del destino.
Bellini: I puritani, La sonnambula andNorma.
Rossini; Il barbiere di Siviglia, L’italiana in Algeri, Cenerentola, Matilde di Shabran and Guglielmo Tell.
Donizetti: Gemma di Vergy, Lucrezia Borgia, Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Pasquale, Roberto Devereux, Belisario, L’elisir d’amore, Maria di Rohan, Il campanello, Poliuto, Linda di Chamounix and La favorita.
Mercadante: Il giuramento and La vestale.
Flotow: Marta.
Pacini: Saffo.
Mozart: Don Giovanni.
Gounod: Faust.
Cimarosa: Giannina e Bernardone and Il matrimonio segreto.
Gomes: Il Guarany.

In the Spring of 1878, when he was still a student at the Istituto Musicale “G.Pacini” Giacomo Puccini was able to perform at the Teatro del Giglio as a piano accompanist of a young emerging singer, showing “rare ability”.

Puccini returned some years later to the Teatro del Giglio to present his works – from Edgar to La fanciulla del West – with increasingly more than brilliant results, rather triumphant. Puccini “attended” the representation,or followed the rehearsals to ensure that the level was as high as possible, and then he was present at the first performance, and some of the following, in particular at the so-called “evenings of honour” during which the city showed him affection, appreciation and pride for such an illustrious native son..

The dates of his debuts in Lucca:

Edgar, 5 september 1891;
Manon Lescaut, 3 September 1893;
La bohème, 5 September 1896;
Tosca, 3 September 1900;
Madama Butterfly, 8 September 1907;
La fanciulla del West, 10 September 1911.

Other operas by Puccini are staged to alternate with debuts, continuing until 1924.

The theatre houses a bas-relief by the sculptor Francesco Petroni, which was inaugurated in 1911, to mark the staging of La fanciulla del West, which bears a dedication: “Lucca to Giacomo Puccini, September MCMXI”.

It may be added that in 1923 the Mayor of Lucca established a Committee for the renovation of the Teatro del Giglio,under the chairmanship of Giacomo Puccini, who felt the need for Lucca to have a theatre “adapted to modern needs”, and that could contribute with its experience as one of the most important theatres in the world. he Committee met several times and various proposals were put forward, from enlarging to demolishing the theatre, as far as the construction of a new theatre outside the city walls. The meetings continued even after the death of Puccini, but to no avail.
It can also be added that even the current structure of the theatre in a sense bearsthe imprint of Giacomo Puccini:in fact the gallery, which interrupts the fourth tier of boxes, as it was defined in 1819 on the basis of the previous structure, was built precisely in 1958, to coincide with the celebrations to mark the centenary of his birth.

The Teatro del Giglio, recognized in 1985 as a “Theatre of tradition” continues its work with opera and dance seasons, seasons of plays, concerts and training activities.